Cross-cultural communication is a way of how people from different social and cultural backgrounds communicate with each other similarly and differently. In other words, cross-cultural communication is simply communication among people who differ in age, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and race. This strategy of communication attempts to exchange negotiations and mediate cultural differences through language, gestures, and body language. Today, many communication challenges occur in organizations due to increasing information technology, globalization, and cultural diversity (Borkowski, 2016). Therefore, cross-cultural communication is essential in organizations operating in the global business world. Just like any other organization, cross-cultural communication in health care is vital as it produces quality and best outcomes. Likewise, cultural competence is essential in health care, as it eliminates racial and ethnic disparities (Borkowski, 2016). Cultural competence helps healthcare providers and practitioners to effectively deliver healthcare services that are in line with cultural, social, linguistic and economic needs of patients.
Cultural competence and cross-cultural communication increase the patient's satisfaction. To overcome cultural and communication barriers between patients and health care providers, cross-cultural understanding and cultural competency are essential. Patients feel comfortable with healthcare providers who are equipped with cultural competence and cross-cultural communication skills (Govere & Govere, 2016). Patients pay visits to doctor with confidence since such doctors understand and practice cross-cultural communication with their patients. Moreover, most patients seek health care services from providers and professionals who accept them and understand their illness regardless of their cultural background (Govere & Govere, 2016). Patients avoid those who judge and respond negatively to them at all costs. In this case, due to the cultural dynamics among patients, health providers should understand that patients cannot be treated the same.
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Cultural competence and cross-cultural communication increase responsibility and understanding in patients and health care providers. When a healthcare provider appreciates and acknowledges the patient's cultural diversity, he will be able to understand better the illness of the patient (Shepherd et al., 2019). Better advice will be given to the patient on the course of the treatment as per the patient's beliefs, values, and cultural background. For instance, nutritionists who are attempting to advise a patient, they must be able to understand the kind of foods of the patient consume. This is important as the patient will be able to incorporate the nutritional instructions into their diet. Moreover, patients can be able to understand the plan of care that is to be administered to them. For instance, non-English patients can be provided with a translator.
Generally, cross-cultural communication helps in reducing disparities in health services providing equal treatment in all patients. It also helps the health caregivers to understand the attitude of the patients and how interactions within a specific cultural group affect their attitude (Shepherd et al., 2019). This promotes comfortable discussions with the patient. Health care professionals who understand cultural competence can administer the best care for their patients since they understand their behaviors and thinking (Borkowski, 2016). Therefore, communication difficulties that arise from cultural values and points of view can be avoided through cultural competence.
In conclusion, cross-cultural communication can be challenging, and the challenge can be experienced in day to day activities in organizations. It is because organizations are opening branches in different parts of the world with different cultural beliefs. Therefore to avoid bad results and outcomes, as well as the failure of these branches, cross-cultural communication skills are a key factor to be considered by the employees and managers. Organization personnel must be competent and sensitive to cross-cultural communication. To achieve this, techniques and strategies have to be implemented to enable organizational personnel to learn and practice cross-cultural communication as well as cultural competence.
References
Borkowski, N. (2016). Organizational behavior in health care (3 rd ed). Burlington M.A. Jones and Bartlet Learning.
Govere L. & Govere, E. M. (2016). How effective is cultural competence training of healthcare providers on improving patient satisfaction of minority groups? A systematic review of literature. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13 (6). https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12176
Shepherd, S. M., Willis-Esqueda, C., Newton, D., Sivasubramaniam, D. & Paradies, Y. (2019). The challenge of cultural competence in the workplace: perspectives of healthcare providers. BMC Health Services Research 19( 135). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3959-7
